Chapter 549: Recommended Opponent

Liang Xue, Long Nv, Lei Ming, and the Earth Demon Dragon were naturally brought by Ye Liuyun into the Xuan Kong Shi to accelerate their cultivation.

The others were meanwhile on guard around the perimeter while cultivating. They exerted little effort, consumed little, and could recover quickly.

"You saved me again!"

Long Nv thanked Ye Liuyun.

"Don't mention it, it's just a small effort!"

Ye Liuyun simply said that, then directly opened his Golden Pupil to observe her and Lei Ming's True Essence conditions. Lei Ming had long grown accustomed to being observed by him and didn't care at all.

Long Nv, however, became unnaturally fidgety. She might have had more contact with human martial cultivators lately, so her speech and behavior differed from before, evidently becoming much softer, not as stiff as before. Now, upon being looked at by Ye Liuyun, her face instantly turned crimson.

Seeing this, Liang Xue pinched Ye Liuyun hard from behind.

Ye Liuyun hurriedly turned his head, looking at Liang Xue in puzzlement. He had no other thoughts, so he also didn't understand why Liang Xue pinched him.

"Watch where you're looking, what are you staring at!" Liang Xue said, pouting.

"What! I'm just checking which of them is more suitable to absorb the Double-headed Shadow Snake's Essence Core."

Ye Liuyun was baffled and too lazy to argue with Liang Xue, so he immediately took out the two Essence Cores of the Double-headed Shadow Snake and gave one to Long Nv.

"Lei Ming, wait a moment; absorbing the Essence Core won't be enough for you to break through. Let Long Nv break through to the Ninth Layer of the Heavenly Gang Realm first." Ye Liuyun explained to Lei Ming.

"Sure! After my True Essence recovers, I'll go out to practice some moves." Lei Ming also wasn't in a rush to break through her realm. To advance from the Heavenly Gang Realm to the Yin-Yang Mirror, she would need a lot of True Essence, and she felt her training wasn't sufficient yet, requiring more battles.

In this Secret Realm, this is a rare opportunity for battle.

So she immediately ran to the side and began cultivating.

"This... thank you so much!"

The flush on Long Nv's face hadn't faded yet, and she had also received the Essence Core given by Ye Liuyun, not knowing how to thank him.

Ye Liuyun waved his hand. "No need to thank me; hurry up and break through!"

After saying that, he pulled Liang Xue aside to cultivate.

What he kept for himself was the fire-attributed Essence Core of the Double-headed Shadow Snake. He didn't give it to Lei Ming because he felt he could nearly use this Essence Core to break through to the Eighth Layer of the Heavenly Gang Realm.

He allocated resources based on need, not just for himself, and certainly wouldn't favor anyone nearby.

The cultivation spots of Ye Liuyun and Liang Xue were not far apart. He originally wondered why Liang Xue stayed so close to him.

"Could it be that after being apart for so long, you want to stay near me?"

But when they began cultivating, Ye Liuyun understood Liang Xue's intention.

Liang Xue's bloodline had a special affinity for spiritual energy. As soon as she started cultivating, she gathered the spiritual energy from the air. Ye Liuyun could also follow and benefit from it, making his absorption efficiency twice as high as his own.

"So Xue'er's bloodline also has the effect of condensing spiritual energy to aid cultivation. No wonder her realm has risen so quickly!"

Thinking this, he quickly sent a voice transmission to thank Liang Xue.

"As long as it helps you! I've heard that if two people practice dual cultivation, their realm advancement will be faster..." Although Liang Xue was sending a voice transmission to Ye Liuyun, her face still turned crimson.

"Strength not gained through one's own cultivation will ultimately be unstable. Even if one can raise their realm, more battles are needed to consolidate it; actually, it's all about the same."

Ye Liuyun, true to his nickname "Blockhead," is indeed slow to react. He only focused on the matter of the realm and missed the point.

"Blockhead!"

Liang Xue huffed angrily in reply, then ignored him. She mustered her courage and mentioned dual cultivation to Ye Liuyun, but he still misunderstood her. She almost wanted to give him a slap to send him flying.

Ye Liuyun blinked, opened his eyes to look at Liang Xue, saw she was cultivating, then closed his eyes again and seized the time to cultivate.

He thought the opportunity was rare and he should cultivate as quickly as possible. After all, still in the Secret Realm, who knows when they'd have to go out and fight; of course, the faster they break through their realm, the safer.

After a while, Liang Xue felt Ye Liuyun accelerating his absorption speed and knew he had started cultivating. She could only sigh helplessly and begin cultivating herself.

"I don't know when this blockhead will finally open his mind a bit!"

Not long after, Liang Xue also entered a cultivating state, and the surrounding spiritual energy became even richer.

Ye Liuyun absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy while also taking in the Double-headed Shadow Snake's Essence Core, and his realm rose rapidly.

His recent battles have been incredibly perilous each time, requiring him to give his all, so all kinds of internal powers have been thoroughly tempered, and breaking through faces no obstacles.

The two Demon Race members and Shao Jianfeng guarding outside rested a bit, then recovered their strength. But they never dared to let their guard down.

People often passed by here. If they were low in realm, the two Demon Race members could drive them away and even seize their Tokens.

They worried that a strong expert might come. If it happened to coincide with Ye Liuyun and the others' cultivation at a critical moment, they couldn't withstand the expert's attack.

But ironically, whatever they feared would show up.

They had just driven away two when, far off, they saw a brilliant Golden Light approaching from afar.

At that intensity of Golden Light, one could tell who it was at a glance!

"Yu Haotian!"

Shao Jianfeng exclaimed in shock.

The two Demon Race members also wore solemn expressions, yet they did not retreat. Lei Ming was also inside the Xuan Kong Shi. The Demon Race greatly values the Thunder Dragon Beast, and they would absolutely sacrifice themselves for it.

Yu Haotian also noticed them, and saw the faint Golden Light emanating from within the Xuan Kong Shi behind them.

Ye Liuyun's Golden Light was too intense; even with the Xuan Kong Shi's obstruction, it could not completely conceal his aura.

Seeing only two Seventh Layer Heavenly Gang Realm Demon Race members and a Third Layer Heavenly Gang Realm Martial Cultivator, Yu Haotian didn't even think of making a move.

"Tell Ye Liuyun to come out; I can't be bothered to fight you!"

During this time he had been searching the Secret Realm for strong opponents. He had also encountered Meng Wentian and Lie Hongxia, only then learning that Ye Liuyun had actually defeated them both.

He immediately became interested and wanted to fight Ye Liuyun, having been searching everywhere for him.

"Young Master Ye is cultivating, preparing to break through his realm; at this moment..."

Shao Jianfeng and the two Demon Race members exchanged uneasy glances. They all knew that for a Martial Cultivator, being disturbed during cultivation is the greatest taboo. If it truly happened at a critical breakthrough juncture, it could mean at best losing all prior progress, at worst suffering deviation and permanent stagnation in realm.